Large commercial aircraft have many different exterior lights. An exemplary group of exterior aircraft lights are lights for passive visibility, such as navigation lights and anti-collision lights. Another example of exterior aircraft lights are headlights that allow the pilots to view the area in front of them, when they are seated in the cockpit. Large commercial aircraft have a variety of different headlights, such as one or more taxi lights, one or more take-off lights, one or more landing lights, and one or more runway turn-off lights. These headlights are supposed to illuminate the portion of the aircraft environment where the pilot's attention is most required during the given operating scenario. In particular with respect to illuminating the landing target, i.e. the airport runway, and with illuminating the flight direction during the early airborne phases after take-off, prior art exterior aircraft light units are not yet satisfactory.
Accordingly, it would be beneficial to provide exterior aircraft light units that allow for an improved illumination of the relevant portion of the aircraft environment.